# Mohan Charan Majhi

Mohan Charan Majhi (IPA: ; born 6 January 1972) is an Indian politician, currently serving as the 15th Chief Minister of Odisha. He was elected to the Odisha Legislative Assembly from Keonjhar in the 2024 Odisha Legislative Assembly election as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He also represented the same constituency from 2000 to 2009 and from 2019 to 2024. He served as the chief whip of the BJP in the Odisha assembly from 2019 to 2024. In the year 1997, he entered politics as a Sarpanch.

## Early and personal life

Mohan Charan Majhi was born on 6 January 1972 in Raikala village of Keonjhar district. His father Gunaram Majhi worked as a peon in a Govt secondary school. His family belongs to the Santal tribal community. He did his schooling from Jhumpura High School in 1987 and completed his higher secondary from Anadapur College in 1990. He obtained a bachelor of arts degree from Chandra Sekhar College, Champua and LLB from Dhenkanal Law College. He worked as a teacher (Guruji) at Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Jhumpura, part of a network of schools run by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He is married to Priyanka Marandi.

## Political career

Majhi served as a village sarpanch of Raikala panchayat from 1997 till 2000. He serves as the secretary of the tribal wing of the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 1997. Majhi was elected to the Odisha Legislative Assembly for the first time from Keonjhar in 2000. He was re-elected in 2004 and served as the deputy chief whip of the government from 2005 to 2009. Majhi lost the assembly elections in 2009 and 2014, but won from the same constituency in 2019. With the BJP becoming the principal opposition party, Majhi was appointed the party's chief whip. He was also a member of standing committee of scheduled castes and tribes and the chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee in the State from 2022 to 2024.
On 10 October 2021, two crude bombs were hurled at Majhi's car near Mandua in Kendujhar district. There was minor damage to his car while Majhi himself escaped without injuries. In September 2023, Majhi was suspended from the Odisha assembly by then speaker Pramila Mallik for throwing dal on her podium, while protesting against the alleged scam in procurement of various pulses by the government.
In the 2024 assembly elections, Majhi won the Keonjhar seat for the fourth time. The BJP secured a majority with 79 of 147 seats in the Odisha assembly, and Majhi was appointed Chief Minister of Odisha on 11 June 2024. He was sworn in as the 15th Chief Minister the following day, succeeding Naveen Patnaik, who had held the position since March 2000 and who had been the longest-serving Chief Minister in India. Majhi was the first person from the Santal tribe community and the third person of tribal origin, after Hemananda Biswal and Giridhar Gamang, to become Chief Minister of Odisha.

## Electoral statistics

| Year | Constituency | Votes | % | Result |
| 2000 | Keonjhar | 51,449 | 59.08 | Won |
| 2004 | Keonjhar | 46,146 | 40.14 | Won |
| 2009 | Keonjhar | 29,202 | 24.29 | Lost |
| 2014 | Keonjhar | 47,283 | 30.31 | Lost |
| 2019 | Keonjhar | 72,760 | 42.10 | Won |
| 2024 | Keonjhar | 87,815 | 47.05 | Won |